The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has been expanding its business beyond its key base, venturing into other options such as online video, with a notable slowdown of growth in its online shopping business.

On Thursday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it has signed a deal for five-year loan worth $3 billion. It will be used for helping the e-commerce giant boost its stakes in Chinese as well as overseas companies.

Alibaba said that the loan will be used for "general corporate purposes" and did not specify exactly where it will be utilized.

In a filing with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it had signed the group loan agreement with eight lead arrangers and also stated that the amount of the loan could go higher up depending on the demand.

In the SEC filing, Alibaba said referring to the benchmark interest rate that's used by several global banks when giving loans, "The loan, which is subject to upsize through oversubscriptions in syndication, has a five-year bullet maturity and is priced at 110 basis points over LIBOR."

Reportedly, last month it surfaced that Alibaba was discussing loan options with many banks for acquisitions and well as fund expansions.